[Homily. Feast of the Epiphany. Assumption Chapel. January 8, 2023.]
An epiphany is a manifestation of the Holy. It is a manifestation of God's holy presence to us.
In the context of the First Reading, when the Israelites were suffering the darkness and alienation of the Babylonian exile, the words of Yahweh heralded by Second Isaiah were a manifestation of the Holy. Jerusalem had been destroyed. Not a stone of the great Temple of Solomon was left upon another stone. The people were expelled and brought into a foreign land. Among foreigners, in the turmoil of their remorse, in their struggle for their lost identity, in the darkness of their loss, they heard, "Rise up Jerusalem, Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines on you. See, darkness covers the earth, and thick clouds cover the peoples; but upon you, the Lord shines, and over you appears his glory. Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your radiance." It was an experience in darkness of the Holy manifesting itself in light and glory – not only for the Israelites crouching in darkness but for "the nations" - all nations.
Then, what would be the effect of this manifestation of the Holy in your life? Isaiah says, "Then you shall be radiant at what you see. Your heart shall throb and overflow. For the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you." Once God breaks through in your life, you are radiant, your heart throbs, your heart overflows. No riches of the sea can express this. No riches of the earth can manifest this. The Holy manifests itself in your life. God breaks through.
On this Feast of the Epiphany – "epiphany" meaning not only manifestation, but intense manifestation - you are being invited to be attentive to moments in your life when God breaks through. Like when you are in intense fear. You did not mean the accident to happen, but it happened. You fear the repercussions, the condemnation, the anger; your rue the loss, even the death caused. But in this moment of dark interior terror, a fellow human being speaks a word of kindness, even forgiveness. And you know, God is present. The Holy is manifest. God breaks through.
It is in this light that we come together today. Tomorrow, with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, when the voice from heaven breaks through to us and says, "This is my beloved Son…" (Mt. 3:17 b), the Christmas Season ends. Today's Gospel can be read as a summary of our whole Advent and Christmas experience, during which in darkness, we experienced the light of God's beloved Son breaking through – "epiphany," being intensely manifested – in our world not only for the Jewish nation but for all nations, ourselves included, represented by the magi – the wise men, the kings – bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. In our world, where we have experienced the corruption, duplicity and self-serving violence of many Herods, the guiding light from above breaks through so that we are led to the Light of the Babe in the manger.
So let the celebration of today's Epiphany help make "intensely manifest" to you God breaking through to you in your lives as Emmanuel. Where were the special moments of his manifestation:
For me, certainly, one of them was during the Christmas Liturgical Concert when our Hummingbird, Casti Borres, sang, "To see the face of God is my heart's desire. To gaze upon the Lord is my heart's desire." It is a song which echoed and re-echoed within me, heralding how God breaks through. "…For God so loved the world he gave [to us] his only begotten Son … so that every who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3.16).
For me, another such moment was just the other night when our alumnus and former Sub-Dom singer, Mikail Kevin Gomez, turned meanwhile into an accomplished opera tenor, opened his recital with the words of Second-Isaiah from Händel's Messiah: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Is. 40:1-3). The overwhelming power and control of Kevin's singing mediated for me the glory of the entire Advent and Christmas message: "Ev'ry valley shall be exalted, and ev'ry mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it" (Is. 40:4-5).
For you, it may have been in your own singing of Silent Night, Holy Night, or of O Holy Night or, today with Joe Mar Chan, "Let love, like that starlight, on the first Christmas morn, lead us back to the manger where Christ the child was born."
Epiphany – God's intense manifestation of himself to you and to me for the fullness of life. That is the center of today's Feast, not just "Three Kings." They brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Many people make this the reason why they give gifts on Christmas. But in the Gospel, the gold manifests the royal kingship, the frankincense the divinity, and the myrrh the redeeming sacrifice of the Gift the Father gave us in the Child. The gifts of Christmas only remind us of the Father's Gift incarnated for us – made intensely manifest for us – in Love.
Be attentive to how the Holy-made-flesh, this Child – Emmanuel – continues to break through – to intensely manifest the Father's Love - in our lives.
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